Tuesday, June 14, 2011

A Quick Lunar Eclipse Note



As I type this, it is Tuesday, June 14, and it is a little before 10 pm Chicago time. The Moon is visible, but the sky is cloudy. I took a couple of hand-held photos a few minutes ago. With my camera on automatic, it exposes for the clouds:


If I speed up the shutter manually, even though there are high clouds, it is still possible to make out some good lunar features. I’ve posted a Moon map in Sense Of Place. Tonight the rising Moon was 99.3% full.

You can see my favorite sequence of lunar features. Starting from the upper center at the Sea of Serenity you can follow the dark patches down through the Sea of Vapours and down farther until you end up in the Sea of Clouds to the lower left. Mare Nubium.

“Honey, we’re home, here in the Sea of Clouds.”


Tomorrow there will be a great lunar eclipse. Unfortunately for us in the West the lunar eclipse will start and end in the afternoon, Chicago time. Wolfram Alpha has the timeline for Chicago:


And Wolfram Alpha also can map who will be able to see the lunar eclipse:


(To get those graphics, just go to Wolfram Alpha
and type: lunar eclipse )

People in the Middle East will get a good view. Some Muslims believe the End Times will be “announced” to the world by two signs in the heavens—there will be a month that will start out with a lunar eclipse and end with a solar eclipse.

This will be a good lunar eclipse, but there is no solar eclipse scheduled for later this month.

So, on one hand, we would seem to be safe. On the other hand, if there IS an unscheduled solar eclipse at the end of this month, that would be a pretty darn good sign that something really big is going on in the heavens.

I think we’re reasonably safe.

I mean, at least I think there will NOT be an unscheduled solar eclipse later this month.

There is still the methane and other gases upwelling from the Gulf of Mexico, and the radiation spreading from at least three melt-downs in Fukushima.

So, you know, we’re not safe.

But we are safe from bizarre astronomy beliefs.

So, you know, there’s that.










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Whispering On The Moon


Amy Winehouse In The Sea Of Crises



Sense Of Place



Moonlight Becomes You




















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